Monday, May 19, 2014

May Cardboard goodies from Urbandale Card Show

Since last weekend was the second of the month, you know what that means...It's time for Urbandale's monthly American Legion Card Show.

It's been a couple of months since the last card show, due to the fact it was absent in April. I've been anxiously counting down the days and putting my spare change aside, so let's check out what I got in the way of San Diego Padres cards this month, shall we?

By the way, all these cards, except for one, came out of nickel boxes. Can you guess which one?

I was at an American Post Exchange in Germany in 1996 when I bought my first pack of 1995 Emotion cards. While it was the hockey set, I thought these cards from Fleer/Skybox were pretty amazing. With, a big bold player picture on the front and two more smaller player pics on the back, these cards could actually be summed up in one word. Literally, in one word. If you check out the Ken Caminiti card, his word was "secure" and and Scott Sanders' was "slider" his "out" pitch.

I've also resisted the impulse to come up with a bad Sanders pun. He and Derek Bell were arrested in April 1994 for allegedly propositioning undercover policewomen on a Manhattan street corner often frequented by prostitutes.

I'm also a sucker for hologram cards and while Rod, from Padrographs: Abner to Zimmer included a packaged trio of 1993 Upper Deck Then and Now Padres cards in a fantastic package, these individual Dave Winfield and Ozzie Smith cards from the 1993 Upper Deck Then and Now set just had to be added to my collection.

Amongst my search for the finest cards I could find, were these from the 2003 Finest set, with Phil Nevin and Ryan Klesko, as well as Finest's 1994 version, featuring Dave Staton and Trevor Hoffman. I don't think you can ever have enough Trevor Hoffman cards.

Even though he was a Friar for only two-and-a-half years, Fernando Valenzuela looked good in Padres pinstripes in his 1996 Pacific card. I've also included Eddie Williams and Ken Caminiti's cards from the set, and the final card is a 1995 Upper Deck Minors Dustin Hermanson.

As these cards prove, I have a flair for finding cardboard such as these 1994 Flair Andy Benes, Donnie Elliott, Tim Hyers and Scott Sanders cards.

Here's Scott Livingston's 1995 Score Gold Rush, a 2002 Topps Heritage Ryan Klesko, a 1992 Pinnacle Benito Santiago and 1996 Upper Deck Rickey Henderson. My wife gets bored at the card shows and card shops, but she doesn't mind seeing some of the cards when I come home. She said feels the Pinnacle card is kind of freaky and shows Santiago's sinister side.

Finally, I'll display my new 2014 Bowman Jed Gyorko, 1994 Studio Andy Ashby, 1985 Fleer Goose Gossage and 2012 Panini Signature Series Cameron Maybin. I'm not very familiar with this particular line of Panini cards, but the photography is sharp and you have to like that look of intensity on Maybin's face.

As usual, I picked up a bunch of traders for my blogging brethren, so whenever I get around to it, I'll have a a few more cards to send throughout the continental U.S.